Issue 22 (April - June 1998)

The urge for freedom is innate in man. In his pursuit or expression of it, man has the option to discover himself as a responsible being with free will, that is, as a being whose freedom is the means to the end of his being responsible. But, as often as not, he has taken the other option - to defy…

Christianity did not develop as a comprehensive religion encompassing all fields of life but as a set of spiritual and moral values with some bearing on, but no directions for, the worldly’ aspects of life. This has had serious consequences for subsequent Western history. For example, Christianity…

As a result of some chemical processes in our bodies such as the decrease of the amount of sugar in our blood, we feel hunger or the urge to eat. If we eat more than we need, some of the food consumed is changed into fat and stocked, and the body slows down the mechanism of synthesizing fat. The or…

Qualifications and task of the counsellor Genetic counselling is the process whereby an individual or family obtain advice and information about a genetic condition that may affect the individual and family, their children and the wider community. The aim of such counselling is to enable appropria…

Qualifications and task of the counsellor Genetic counselling is the process whereby an individual or family obtain advice and information about a genetic condition that may affect the individual and family, their children and the wider community. The aim of such counselling is to enable appropria…

Beware, only in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest. Only through recognizing their One Creator can all spirits and hearts be delivered from the distress and confusion arising from misguidance, and the spiritual pains arising from that distress. They can be saved by attributing all beings t…

Listen to the stars and heed their beautiful sermons, See what is written in these luminous missives of Wisdom: They are all delivering together this beneficient discourse: “Each of us is a radiant proof for the majestic sovereignty of an All-Powerful One of glory. We bear witness to the exist…

Part II: Economic Individualism and Secularization The wider context of Robinson Crusoe Crusoe’s relationship with God is sincere, intense and actively personal. It is also general and subjective. He does not read the resources he uses as ‘signs of God’; only the general fact that they are avail…

What Satan is and why he was created? Satan was, like the jinn with whom he mostly kept company, was also created from ‘fire’. Before he was put to the test of obedience and sincerity through Adam, he had been in the company of angels; acting and worshipping as they did. Unlike the angels who do w…

In 1949 researchers believed that ‘Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.’ Of course, we have come a long way since then, but the underlying computational framework has remained the same: today’s supercomputers still employ the kind of sequential logic used by the mechanical dinos…

In pre-Islamic Arabia, people were divided into tribes and clans continually at war with one another. The rivalry among them was so intense that, for example, Abu Jahl, the archenemy of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, once acknowledged: ‘I know that Muhammad is a Prophet. Ho…